


Stray Assassin

by maddestofhatters



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Assassin Clint Barton, Assassin Natasha Romanov, Nick Fury is a Good Bro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 15:48:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30041049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maddestofhatters/pseuds/maddestofhatters
Summary: The one where Clint Barton makes a different call and gives Natasha a second chance.
Kudos: 4





	Stray Assassin

**Author's Note:**

> Based on this Tumblr post that I can't seem to find anymore. It basically said that Fury knew ab the Red Room and intentionally sent Clint to "kill" Natasha.

Natalia Alianovna Romanova. The Black Widow. Russia’s most infamous assassin. Clint almost laughed when he got the assignment. Surely there must be someone better equipped for this than him? He’d had his fair share of assassinations, sure, but never for this big a target. The Black Widow was a myth, a legend. How were you supposed to kill a legend?

Little did he know that Fury gave him this mission for a reason. The new recruit. The one who was prone to follow his heart rather than his head. The one who was known to disobey orders. For you see, Nick Fury doesn’t trust people very much, but he does like them.

…

Clint sat on the roof. Watching her through his spyglass, like he had been doing for the past couple of weeks. She was phenomenal. Silent, deadly, dangerous. She seduced people like it was second nature. Which it probably was. Wound them around her finger, made them do anything. Then, when they weren’t looking, sliding a knife between their ribs and walking away again, as if nothing had happened. This had been going on for a while now. She seduced someone, slept with them (he assumed, he didn’t actually watch that part) and took them out. He’d been following her all the while. Waiting for the perfect opportunity to release his arrow. But she always seemed to be in some sort of company. He was pretty sure she knew he was following her. Stealth wasn’t exactly his strong suit. But she hadn’t acknowledged his presence yet, which he was silently thankful for.

…

She smiled. She did that a lot, Clint noticed. Although it never quite reached her eyes, but her marks never seemed to notice that. Clint sat on the roof again. Spyglass in hand. Opposite of the little bar she was in. Seducing another oblivious man. She smiled again and shifted closer to her target. Putting her hand on his arm. She’d been in there for quite a while now. They’d been drinking, a lot. The man was obviously drunk, but she didn’t seem to be affected at all. Finally, after what felt like hours, the pair stood up. Exiting the bar through the back exit. Clint followed them. They entered an apartment building. He couldn’t see them anymore, but he knew what was about to happen. So he tried to get comfortable and waited.

After a few hours she exited the building again. Alone. Her hair was a bit ruffled, but other than that there was no indication she had just murdered a man in his sleep. Clint followed her with his eyes. When she was about to cross the street, she stopped. Her eyes darted upwards, right to where Clint was sitting. He held his breath. There was no way she could see him, he was shrouded in darkness and too high up to see from the ground. After a few moments she looked away again and continued as though nothing had happened.

A few blocks further she finally stopped walking. Clint had no idea where she was going. She usually went to another bar or a hotel after she’d taken out her target. But this time she hadn’t. This time she walked away alone. It didn’t seem like she had any particular goal in mind. She just kind of wandered the street aimlessly. He could have taken her out a while ago. This was the first time she had actually been alone and there couldn’t have been a better opportunity. But Clint hadn’t drawn his arrow yet. He was too curious. He knew his colleagues from SHIELD would scoff him for his lack of determination, but he couldn’t do it. Not yet.

She looked around a bit. Then, suddenly, with a newfound sense of direction, she crossed the street and got into a black car. There was no license plate. Not a surprise. The car started up and she drove away. Clint was a little taken aback by this sudden action, but he still aimed his bow and shot a tracker onto her car. Then he climbed down from the roof and went back to get his motorcycle.

…

The tracker had stopped moving a few minutes ago. Clint didn’t know if that was because she found it or because she had reached her destination. He wasn’t sure which one he dreaded more. But he wasn’t going to find it out by standing here. He had stopped a few hundred metres away as to not run into her. He waited a few more moments, then hid his bike inside some bushes and continued on foot.

The black car was parked outside a seemingly abandoned warehouse. Except it wasn’t abandoned entirely, cause the lights were on. There were big windows on the side of the building, so he shot his grappling hook and landed just outside of one. Careful to not let his shadow betray him. He crouched down by the window and grabbed his spyglass again. There she was. Standing in the middle of the warehouse. She was talking to a man. She seemed a bit annoyed. The man was accompanied by two bodyguards, who stood a bit to the right. Clint adjusted his hearing piece, so he could hear what they were saying.

“So it’s been taken care of?” The man asked her.

“He’s dead, like I promised.”

Her voice was sweeter than he expected. In all the weeks he’d been following her, he realised he had never actually hear her speak.

“Now, that’s just magnificent, ain’t it?” The man spoke again. He had a light accent, but Clint couldn’t really pin down from where. The man gestured to one of the bodyguards, who handed him a small bag.

“The first half of your money. You’ll get your second half later.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“That’s not what we-”

The man slapped her.

“Do not speak, unless spoken to.” He threatened.

Clint saw her jaw tighten. For a second he thought she was going to retaliate, but then she pursed her lips and gave a small nod. Weird, he thought to himself. This didn’t look like the woman he’d been following for weeks.

“As I was saying,” the man continued, “you’ll get your second half later. You see, me and the boys,” he smiled, “well we’ve just been so busy lately. We could use a break.”

He walked over to her and put an arm around her shoulders. She didn’t say anything, just narrowed her eyes slightly.

“And you, well you’re just gorgeous aren’t you.”

His hand slid down and rested on the small off her back. She didn’t move.

“How about you come back here, tomorrow night, 10 PM, and you show me and my boys a good time, yeah?” The man grinned. His hand slid down again and came to rest on her ass. He gave a quick squeeze, then walked away.

“Oh and if any of my boys leave dissatisfied, you ain’t getting your money.” He said with a threatening glance. “Do we understand each other?”

She stared at him for a few seconds. Then she briefly closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she smiled.

“Of course.” She said sweetly. Almost sarcastically. But the man didn’t seem to notice, or care. He turned around again and walked away. Motioning for his bodyguards to follow him.

Clint was stunned. What had just happened? The most dangerous assassin had let some man tell her what to do. He didn’t really understand what kind of game she was playing. If she was playing any game at all. He just sat there in silence. Waiting for her to move again.

After a few minutes she came out and walked to her car. But she didn’t get in. Instead she placed her hands on the door and leaned against the car. She bowed her head. Clint didn’t really understand what she was doing, until he saw her shoulders shake lightly. Was she crying? He looked through his spyglass. She turned around and there were tears glistening on her cheeks. She slid down to the ground with her back against the car door. She was shaking more violently now. She let her head rest in her hands. When she was sitting like this, she looked so fragile. So breakable. Almost like a child. She stayed like that for a while. And Clint stayed too, watching her.

He made a decision then. He wasn’t going to kill her. She was just a girl. A victim. Just like he had once been. Just like so many others were. A victim of men who used and abused her. She didn’t deserve this. She didn’t deserve any of this. So no, he wasn’t going to kill her. He was going to give her a second chance.

…

Fury didn’t even seem surprised when Clint came back with a stray assassin. He looked amused. Satisfied even. Almost as if this were his plan all along. Almost. You see, Nick Fury knew about the Red Room. So when he heard of a girl, a woman, formed in such a place, who seemed to be broken beyond repair, he got interested. So he sent the new recruit on a mission to kill her. The one who was prone to follow his heart rather than his head. The one who was known to disobey orders. Cause even though Nick Fury doesn’t trust people very much, he does like them. 


End file.
